Community Health Systems, Inc. (often called CHS) is a U.S. healthcare company headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee. Founded in 1985, it developed around the idea of building and operating community-based healthcare delivery systems, growing through a mix of hospital operations and affiliated local networks.
CHS describes its footprint as spanning 36 distinct markets across 14 states, anchored by affiliated hospitals and supported by a broad outpatient presence. It also emphasizes breadth beyond inpatient settings, pointing to a large network of additional sites of care that extend access in the communities it serves.
The company’s business is developing and operating healthcare delivery systems, with general acute-care hospital services complemented by outpatient and ambulatory care options. These sites commonly include physician practices, urgent care centers, freestanding emergency departments, imaging and cancer centers, and ambulatory surgery centers—services intended to cover both routine and higher-acuity needs.
A defining feature of CHS is its “affiliated” model—supporting locally identified hospitals and care sites while using shared scale in operations, clinical support, and access points across a region. Within its network, one example of an affiliated hospital family is Merit Health, which operates multiple facilities and related medical groups in Mississippi communities.